North Canterbury irrigation scheme seeks $63m from farmers
A proposed irrigation scheme using Hurunui River water is seeking $63m from farmers.
A controversial North Canterbury irrigation scheme is seeking $63 million from 194 farmers in the Hurunui District.
The Hurunui District Council is also expected to decide soon if it will contribute money for the scheme that has been acrimoniously debated among ratepayers.
The Hurunui Water Project is one that missed out on government funding after the new Labour-led coalition scrapped irrigation investment in new schemes, but it received earlier funding from Crown Irrigation Investments for feasibility studies.
Chris Pile, chief executive of the Hurunui Water Project.
Hurunui Water Project chief executive Chris Pile said obtaining funding from the local council was more about the moral support it signalled than the money
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The extent of support will be known by July 16, the expiry date of the prospectus offering water right shares.
The water would be taken from the Hurunui River via an existing intake shared with the Amuri Irrigation Company, which supplies a catchment further north.
About 50,000 hectares will be irrigated by the scheme, touted to create economic benefits for the area.
Shelterdale farm manager Richard Jordan, left, and Fraser King in fodder beet - irrigated crops are yielding about 25 tonnes a hectare compared with 18t/ha for dryland.
It would be stored on a man-made storage lake to be constructed by Rooney Group, behind most of the irrigation construction in Canterbury.
Greenpeace recently issued a media statement protesting about rich-lister Gary Rooney, "a wealthy construction magnate" who was supporting a South Canterbury scheme, Hunter Downs, as well as Hurunui Water Project.
"Rooney's companies have also profited from several lucrative construction contracts for other irrigation schemes in the region," Greenpeace claimed.
"The only way to stop this scheme, and others like it, is for the Government to step in and ban new dairy conversions and end livestock intensification," Greenpeace said.
The Hurunui scheme is subject to new catchment rules under an Environment Canterbury district plan allowing an 18.5 per cent increase in nitrogen loading into the Hurunui River, the Hurunui Water Project prospectus states. But there is no allowable increase in phosphorous which is already at maximum environmental limits in the river.
Kayaker Neil McKeegan paddling boat through the Cheesegrater rapid in Māori Gully, Hurunui River earlier this year.
"A scheme environmental monitoring plan includes surface and groundwater quality monitoring, and triggers for increased mitigation of effects, and requires annual public reporting," the prospectus said.
Rooney Group has already loaned $2.4m to the scheme, to be repaid after the water company obtains its funding target. Rooney Group is expected to cary out construction of the storage lake surrounded by a 24 metre high embankment and associated works.
The total cost of the scheme is estimated at $229m or $10,895 per hectare and a scheme operating cost of $250/ha. Farmers will also pay between $750/ha to $830/ha each year in water charges.
The storage lake, which requires resource consent, is on land currently owned by Ngāi Tahu Farming. Other consents to divert river water for storage have been obtained.
- Stuff
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